From 15 years ago today comes an ant on an opening rain lily (Zephyranthes sp.). Below, from August 26th of this year, the flower-treader was a crab spider. § We’re traveling, so you’ll understand if I’m slow to reply to your comments. © 2025 Steven Schwartzman| Portraits of Wildflowers
From September 18th at Tejas Park in Williamson County come these opposite looks at a greenbrier vine (Smilax bona-nox) that a spider had bewebbed. Notice how the spider had also folded over the lowest leaf to make a little retreat. I don’t recall what was in the background of the second picture that showed […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
On September 20th we visited a park in southwest Austin that was new to us, Convict Hill Quarry Neighborhood Park. In fact the park is relatively new to Austin, having been cleaned up and fashioned from an old quarry in 2007. One thing I photographed there is a wildflower, cut-leaf gilia (Giliastrum incisum), that […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
As you saw last week, on September 18th close to the North Fork of the San Gabriel River east of Tejas Park in Williamson County I found a bunch of Proboscidea louisianica flowering. One flower had fallen from its plant and gotten snagged on a dewberry cane (Rubus trivialis). Below is the underside of a […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
Heading south on US 183 through Leander on September 18th, we couldn’t help noticing a bright cluster of flowering gayfeather spikes (Liatris punctata var. mucronata) by the side of the road as we drove past. It took a couple of miles to reach the next overpass, cross to the other side of the highway, […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
On September 12th in Bull Creek District Park I noticed a leaf-footed bug (Leptoglossus sp.) on a buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Six days later in a dry portion of the bed of the San Gabriel River’s North Fork near Tejas Park in Williamson County I trailed a hoppity amphibian that was no longer than, and […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
© 2025 Steven Schwartzman| Portraits of Wildflowers
On September 18th close to the North Fork of the San Gabriel River east of Tejas Park in Williamson County I found a bunch of Proboscidea louisianica flowering. Wikipedia reports many common names for the species: devil’s claw, unicorn-plant, ram’s horn, aphid trap, goat’s head, elephant tusks, and martinoe (or martina). It had been […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
Here are views from the side and from above of Liatris bridgesii in Bastrop State Park on September 13th. Botanists formerly classified this as Liatris elegans var. bridgesii. The bridges to elegance still stand. § § § § § “Living in the Gray Zone of Political Violence,” by Douglas Murray […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
Here’s a closer look at the showy palafoxia (Palafoxia hookeriana)we found in abundance at Bastrop State Park on September 13th. This species is conspicuously and contact…| Portraits of Wildflowers
In Bull Creek District Park on September 12th I made the twin portrait above of what I take to be Strophostyles helvola, colloquially called amberique bean, trailing fuzzybean, trailing wild bean, and annual sand bean. On the same outing I succeeded with something I’ve often had trouble getting good pictures of because its flowers […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
On September 12th in Bull Creek District Park I photographed this Silphium radula flower head. The way the leaf behind it curved steeply upward somehow reminded me of the Alamo Cenotaph in San Antonio. (“A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
From September 12th in Bull Creek District Park come the purple mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) flower heads above. Eleven days earlier at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center I’d photographed the tip of a gayfeather flower stalk (Liatris punctata var. mucronata) with a grasshopper on it. ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
It’s all too common for poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) to cause itchy red splotches on people’s skin. It’s also not uncommon, at least in Austin, to see reddish splotches on poison ivy. As fitting as that “revenge” may seem, it doesn’t come from people but from Aculops rhois, a tiny mite that creates these […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
At the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on September 1st I made a portrait of a yellow waterlily bud (Nymphaea mexicana) that was opening. The picture above suggests why one vernacular name for the species is banana waterlily. Below is a closer view of an opening bud from higher up. Nymphaea mexicana […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
Here are two things I photographed on Callicarpa americana, a bush known as American beautyberry. One is the fruit, shown above in our yard on August 21st. Notice how the ripening proceeds from the proximal end of a branch toward the distal end. Notice also how leaves emerge from within the fruit clusters. The […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
Look at the silvery damselfly that obligingly landed close to me whileI was out photographing in Bull Creek District Park on September 12th. § § § § § “An Ideology Whose Logic Leads to Murder: It was grimly fitting that Charlie Kirk was slain on a college campus—source of the ‘hate speech […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
At Laguna Gloria on September 3rd a shelf fungus on a treecaught my attention. Here are views from above and from the side. § § § § § England Good old England, the land in which Anglo-Saxon developed and spread to be the primary language in the United States, […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
As often as I’ve seen small snails climbing up plants, I don’t recall seeing a snail that had climbed up a prickly pear cactus (Opuntia engelmannii) until I caught sight of the one above in my neighborhood on September 4th. As an example of a snail on a different kind of plant, consider the […]| Portraits of Wildflowers
I’ve taken hundreds of pictures of rain lilies (Zephyranthes sp.) over the years. Some are what youmight call conventional views, which isn’t a bad thing. I’ve also at time…| Portraits of Wildflowers
10 posts published by Steve Schwartzman during August 2025| Portraits of Wildflowers
We drove a couple of miles east from home this morning to Schroeter Neighborhood Park to go walking. Although Austin got a bit over half an inch of rain toward the end of last week, I wasn&#…| Portraits of Wildflowers
I’m always on the lookout for combinations of native plants. Tens of thousands of possibilities exist for two species of native plants to grow in proximity, so there’s no danger …| Portraits of Wildflowers
Yesterday you saw seed heads of Clematis texensis. However, by far the most common of the three Clematis species in central Texas is Clematis drummondii. When July and August roll around, it’…| Portraits of Wildflowers
This was a good year for bluebells (Eustoma sp.), as a whopping eight posts in July confirmed. At this late date it occurred to me to show two last photographs that differ from the nineteen i…| Portraits of Wildflowers
On July 26th, six days after taking a lot of close abstract jimsonweed pictures, in a different neighbor’s front yard and with a telephoto rather than a macro lens I made this dual portrait …| Portraits of Wildflowers
A neighbor’s front yard on July 20th yielded these close abstractions of jimsonweed flowers (Datura sp.).The first one coincidentally fits the “pinwheel” theme of a recent …| Portraits of Wildflowers
Perspectives on Nature Photography| Portraits of Wildflowers
By now you’ve probably seen videos or read articles about the disastrous and deadly flooding that hit Texas along the Guadalupe River near Kerrville on July 4th. Very heavy rain caused…| Portraits of Wildflowers